


What about you? What about me?

by readergirl101



Series: Replaced [3]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Fusion, Homeworld is Horrible, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Off Colors
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-24 04:57:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,158
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17698067
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/readergirl101/pseuds/readergirl101
Summary: “Do you ever wish,” Pearl said, “that there was…”“Was what?”“Some… someplace. Someplace else. Where… where we didn’t have to worry about Morganite because she didn’t own me… where we didn’t have to worry about being caught or being shattered. Where we could just be together.”





	What about you? What about me?

Pearl had been pacing in the storage closet for nearly twenty minutes. She and Ruby had agreed the time and place, and now she couldn’t help but worry that something awful had happened. The hall they were meeting in was out of the way. It was empty and hardly used and there was barely any security footage because the space was never used. No one would have any reason to even find out they were down here. But now she was sure someone had found out they were meeting… Morganite had found out they were fusing… they were both going to be caught and shattered-

Someone knocked on the door. Pearl jumped. She knocked again. Four times. The symbol they had made up so they could know it wasn’t someone else. It was Ruby. Pearl let out a sigh of relief she didn’t need and cracked the door open just enough for Ruby to slip inside.

“I’m sorry I’m late! I was trying to get away but 4XN kept wouldn’t stop talking to me and I didn’t want her to think I was doing anything weird-” Ruby stopped. “Pearl?”

Pearl was still facing the door, making sure that it was locked. It could still be unlocked from outside, but at least it would give them warning if someone tried to open it. Not that there was anywhere to go, it was a closet. But maybe enough time to hide Ruby in her gem and pretend this was where she was supposed to be.

“I thought something might have happened-” Pearl started.

“Pearl,” Ruby repeated. “What happened to your back?”

Pearl whipped around. She had forgotten about them in her panic, fresh welts visible where her leotard dipped low in the back. She hid her hands behind her. “It’s nothing. I- I’m fine-”

“No, you’re not!” Ruby said. “What happened?”

“Ruby, I said it’s nothing-”

“Please,” Ruby begged. “Pearl, what happened?”

Pearl swallowed, even though she didn’t need to do that either. Ruby looked half horrified and half heartbroken. Slowly, Pearl knelt down in front of Ruby and held out her hands, revealing welts across her palms and forearms.

Ruby gently took one of her hands, careful not to touch the actual wounds. “What… did Morganite…?”

“It was my fault,” Pearl insisted. “I… I dropped a box of data rods… a few of them broke-”

“She whipped you just for that?! But it was an accident?! Wasn’t it?!”

“I should have been more careful,” Pearl pulled her hand away. She focused at a spot on the floor, away from Ruby, refusing to admit how much the welts really hurt. She didn’t need to worry Ruby anymore than she already had. “It’s fine- they’ll be healed within a rotation or two-”

Ruby was staring at Pearl. She felt sick, like half the world had been pulled out from under her. Morganite had been hitting Pearl. She had probably always been hitting her. And Ruby had never paid enough attention to notice it until now. “Does she hit you a lot?”

“No… well… sometimes,” Pearl admitted, twisting her fingers together. “When no one else is around…”

“You…” Ruby wanted something to do with her hands, but she didn’t try to take Pearl’s again, letting them hang uselessly at her sides. “You should have told me- I- I-”

“Ruby,” Pearl said, finally looking back at her. “There’s nothing you can do.”

Ruby’s shoulders slumped. Pearl was right. There was absolutely nothing she could do to stop Morganite from abusing Pearl and she hated it. There should be something. Some way she could stop it. She wanted there to be something she could do, anything at all. Something to make sure Morganite would never hurt Pearl again.

“I know,” Ruby said softly. “I just wish there was.”

“It’s really not that bad,” Pearl promised. “It’s not all the time- just when I mess up-”

“She shouldn’t hit you even if you do mess up!”

“It’s not that bad- there are other gems who are worse to their Pearls-”

“Are there gems who don’t hit their Pearls at all?” Ruby countered.

“Yes,” Pearl said. “But they’re the rare ones. What Morganite does- it’s normal. And she wouldn’t really hurt me. Not enough to damage my gem or anything…” Ruby still looked shocked. And Pearl wasn’t so sure she was right about that. But she really didn’t want to think what would happen to her if Morganite  _ was  _ willing to damage her gem. “Be-besides, if I belonged to one of them I wouldn’t have met you.”

“Will you tell me?” Ruby asked. “If she does it again?”

“You can’t do-”

“I know. But please?”

Pearl smiled a little. She nodded.

Ruby sat down, slumped against the wall. Pearl sat next to her, not letting the welts on her back actually hit the wall. They stung enough already. Pearl pulled her knees up to her chest. Her smile had faded. It still felt a little strange sometimes. That someone like Ruby would care so much about her. That she could care so much about Ruby.

“Do you ever wish,” Pearl said, “that there was…”

“Was what?”

“Some… someplace. Someplace else. Where… where we didn’t have to worry about Morganite because she didn’t own me… where we didn’t have to worry about being caught or being shattered. Where we could just be together.”

“Yeah,” Ruby said. “What if… there was a place where we could be together all the time. Where we could be Rhodonite all the time.”

“What?” Pearl shook her head, pulled from the daydream. “We can’t be her all the time-”

“Well, not right now,” Ruby said. “But if there was a place where we could always be together, why couldn’t we always be fused?”

Pearl bit her lip. “You think we could do it? Stay fused all the time?”

“Maybe. I… I want to be with you all the time. I don’t like having to hide and sneak around and… and worry about Morganite hurting you.”

“Ruby, you don’t have to worry about me. Really.”

“Yes I do!” Ruby cried, leaping to her feet. “Don’t you worry about me sometimes?”

“Yes,” Pearl admitted. “I worry… that somegem in your barracks will catch on, and we’ll be caught. That you’ll get reassigned… and that I’ll never see you again. That you’ll be sent out for something and get shattered and I’ll never even know.”

Ruby slumped back to the floor. She was silent for a long time. “That won’t happen.”

“You don’t know that.”

“I know.” Ruby leaned her head against Pearl. Pearl wrapped her arms around Ruby, resting her head on Ruby’s hair.

Rhodonite opened her eyes. The welts didn’t hurt so bad like this.

A place where they could always be fused. Where they didn’t have to worry about Morganite or Diamonds or being shattered.

It was a fantasy. A ridiculous one.

But it was the best one she had ever had.

**Author's Note:**

> Ruby is protective.


End file.
